her husband so that he could carry on his family legacy. If a woman was unable to make babies, her husband would turn elsewhere in order to have children. In the book of Genesis, Lots daughters recognized their fathers need to continue his lineage. Our father is old, and there is no man on earth to come to bed with us like the way of all the earth. Come, let us give our father wine to drink and let us lie with him, so that we may keep alive the seed from our father (Genesis 19:31-33, p90). Although incestual and undoubtedly unpleasurable, the daughters recognized that it was their duty to carry on the seed of their father. In another biblical example, Abrams wife Sarai is barren and unable to bear him children. This is seen as a near-tragedy to the family, so Sarai tells her husband look, pray, the LORD has kept me from bearing children. Pray, come to bed with my slave girl. Perhaps I shall be built up through her (Genesis 16:2, p67). At the time, it was socially acceptable for a man to sleep with any woman in order to have children of his own, particularly sons. If a woman were to cheat on her husband in the same manner, she would be condemned; however, a man was allowed to produce children by any means, without a second thought.It could be argued that men faced just as much pressure as women to produce offspring. In Genesis chapter 38, Judah says to Onan, Come to bed with your brothers wife and do your duty as brother-in-law for her to raise up seed for your brother (Genesis 38:8, p218). However, God sees this as an evil action, and puts Onan to death soon after. At the time, it was generally thought that babies came from a man, with a woman serving as merely a vessel for his seed. With the details of conception unknown, no one believed that a child was just as much a part of its mother than its father; a baby was considered to be solely its fathers child. Therefore, a man could not sleep with his brothers (or any oth...
